When you find something…worth fighting for, you never give up. In Fairy Tale Land, Dreamy has just decided to take Belle’s advice and leave his mining life behind to explore the world with Nova. However, this part of the story is not about Dreamy, but Belle. You see, Dreamy only stopped by to thank Belle for her words of wisdom. In return, he turns it back on her: follow the adventure. A group of men in town are hunting a ravaging beast called the Yaoguai, a four-legged monster with a flaming mane—literally. While the hunters may not know where to find the beast, Belle does. She reads, therefore, she knows that most of the world’s knowledge comes from the written word. Her current book, written in Chinese, pinpoints the exact location of the Yaoguai. Convincing the men to let her tag along is not hard, but as soon as she spills the beans about the Yaoguai’s location, they boot her off. But Belle has brains. Since the men couldn’t read the difficult Chinese language, they had no idea that her instructions were way off course. So, on her own, Belle tracks the beast to its lair. Yet while Belle has brains, she lacks the skill of tracking stealthily. Crunching on a brittle twig awakens the creature and it storms out of its cave. Before it can maul Belle, an arrow flies from the woods and scares the beast away. Mulan has hidden in the woods for days trying to track the Yaoguai, and she’s not happy that the process has to start all over because some bookish woman tried chasing adventure.

However, soon after, Belle finds herself in a Chinatown-like village in the Enchanted Forest and the enraged hunter men have found her. Unhappy, they begin to harass Belle. Yet again, Mulan rescues her. The men turn on Mulan, injuring her, and Belle uses some crazy skills to scare them off. Mulan and Belle decide to team up to hunt the magical beast. The women track the beast to another part of the Chinese village. It’s setting fields on fire. With Mulan hurt, Belle must go alone to kill the beast. Taking Mulan’s sword, Belle approaches the beast. Getting its attention, it stampedes Belle. Thinking quick, Belle dumps water on the beast’s flames. This disarms it. Panting, the beast waits for its demise. However, Belle is known for handling beasts of many sorts. Plus, the beast wrote “help me” in the dirt via Chinese symbols which Belle can read. Remembering a pouch of fairy dust Dreamy had given her, Belle pulls it out and dumps it on the Yaoguai. Woosh! It transforms into Prince Phillip—yes, Aurora’s Prince Phillip. Maleficent had put a curse on the young man to keep him out of Aurora’s reach. In return for breaking his curse, he offers to help Mulan. And so begins the Mulan/Prince Phillip romance…

But not so fast… Belle takes off into the woods alone. (Always a good idea). The Evil Queen finds Belle, captures her and tells her she will lock her away forever in a tower---for her own good, of course. To save her from any more lose loves. But Belle won’t ever stop fighting for Rumplestiltskin, no matter how long she’s locked away!

The Storybrooke storyline is far more moving. Mr. Gold has found a potion that will allow fairy tale characters to cross the border without losing their memory. All one needs to do is pour the potion on the most beloved item the person owns and he can cross freely. After testing the theory on Smee, Mr. Gold prepares for his trip to find Bae. However, Captain Hook has discovered Mr. Gold’s most precious item and he’s sent Smee to retrieve it. With the object in Hook’s possession, Mr. Gold won’t leave. But if that wasn’t enough, Hook decides to go after Belle. Cornering her in the library, Belle barely escapes by hiding in the long-forgotten elevator. She calls Mr. Gold. By the time he arrives, Hook is gone. But now the secret’s out. Hook is in town. But where’s his ship? Belle goes searching by the docks. (I’ve got to give credit to the birds for seeing an invisible ship and sitting on it). Belle sees the birds sitting in mid air and decides that the ship is merely hidden in plain sight. Climbing aboard, Belle finds Archie tied up. She releases him and sends him to find Mr. Gold. Again, Mr. Gold arrives and just in time. Hook has found Belle in his ship, threatened her with her own gun (which Mr. Gold gave her), and told her the truth about Milah’s death. Unable to accept the truth, Belle escapes again and runs to Mr. Gold for safety. Mr. Gold has been waiting for Hook for as long as Hook’s been planning his revenge. Now face to face, Mr. Gold wields the power and beats up on Hook. Belle stops the fight before it goes too far. They manage to get Mr. Gold’s beloved object back. With Hook in town, now is the time for Mr. Gold to leave town.

Meanwhile, the town has buried Archie. Henry is taking it the worst. Trying to cheer him up, Emma decides to take in Pongo. Henry was close to the dog. Also, Mary Margaret and David decide it might be best to find a new home to live in. The apartment is getting a little crowded. However, while the prince and princess are away, Archie comes to see Emma. He’s alive and he carries dangerous news. Cora kidnapped him. Yes, Emma, Cora’s in town!

But that’s not the riveting story of the week. Maybe next week...

Belle and Mr. Gold travel to the border. With the precious object, a scarf, in hand, the two stand at the red spray paint line marking the boundary. Mr. Gold pours the potion on the scarf and wraps it around his neck. He’s ready—28 years in the making! He steps across. Magic shoots across his body, but he’s fine. He remembers Belle, who’s standing a mere foot away, and he remembers his mission. The two rejoice, holding hands. But the moment takes a dark turn when Hook shows up, gun in hand. If he has any say, nobody is going anywhere. The gun goes off, straight at Belle. Mr. Gold yanks Belle out of the way, but not out of danger. The bullet strikes Belle who falls into Mr. Gold’s arms, but across the boundary. Magic shoots across Belle, but no matter how much pleading, she has no idea who Mr. Gold is or where she is. So this begs the question, who does Belle think she is? An insane asylum patient? Librarian? But even that moment is cut short. Headlights flash ahead. A car with Pennsylvania license plates careens toward Mr. Gold, Belle, and Hook. Out of control, the car smashes across the town border, knocking Hook unconscious, and slams into the ditch. An outsider has made his way to Storybrooke…

Burning Questions: 1) Who does Belle think she is now? 2) Is there a remedy for crossing the border? 3) Who is the outsider? Are there any side-effects on him by coming to Storybrooke? 4) Anyone disappointed that the outsider wasn’t Henry’s dad? 5) Will Mr. Gold leave town now that Belle has is injured and has no memory? 6) Where is August Booth? 7) What will be Regina’s reaction when she finds out Archie’s alive and her mother’s in town?! ~ Taryn